Top 5 Mistakes Businesses Make in Digital Marketing

1. Not getting crystal clear on your goals

Bill Copeland said “The trouble with not having a goal is that you can spend your life running up and down the field and never score.” One of the foremost priorities you have as a business is determining what your role is, what your goals are, and how your customers play into that.

This clarity will help you save time and money, and keep you from jumping on every new trend. Getting in alignment with your goals will help you understand whether or not a new idea or technology will help your brand, and help you target your resources where they will pack the most punch.

2. Not defining your audience

You need to have a clear picture in your head of who your ideal customer is. What’s it like to walk a day in their shoes? What do they want to see and hear? What do they want to avoid? What makes them tick?

Knowing your target audience helps you craft your message, and align your resources. You need to remember that people don’t care about your product, they care about how your product can make their life better. You need to know what the answer to that question is.  As Donald Miller says in the video below, if you want your brand to be loved by people, you need to make them feel good about their life. Identify who your customer is and make their life better by creating the products and services they want and need. 

3. Underestimating Mobile

According to CIODive, up to 70% of web traffic happens on a mobile device. You’d be surprised at how many websites, despite that statistic, still aren’t optimized for mobile. According to a report from App Annie, the global app economy will reach $6.3 trillion in 2021. The report examined three major types of monetization: all mobile app stores, in-app advertising and mobile commerce.

Take a look at your products and services, would an app be a good platform for you to reach your customers? What about tools on social media; can you use Instagram’s shoppable posts feature and sell to them right within the app? What about Amazon’s AR Feature? 

Think critically about how you can reach your customers right where they are. And 70% of the time, that’s on their phone.

4. Ignoring Analytics

The beauty of marketing in the digital age, is the speed at which businesses can test and adjust to metrics, totally crafting the user experience. You can lead one segment of your audience to one landing page, and another to a different landing page; or use A/B testing to maximize the effectiveness of your emails and see what converts more, and come up with a plan on how you can adjust within hours.

You will never know whether or not your strategy is working or not if you fail to track your marketing and advertising efforts. Studying analytics and iterating is a simple but powerful way of ensuring your ad budget is put to good use.  

5. Forgetting to promote content

Don’t assume that people will stumble upon your website by chance. Unfortunately, “If you build it they will come” doesn’t really apply to digital marketing. Think, “If you build it, and tell them about it, and remind them how awesome and life-changing it will be for them, then remind them one more time, then they will come.” On average, it takes approximately six to eight touchpoints to close a sale.

Share content across all your networks at the time your audience is most likely to read it. Don’t just create one post for all platforms, but tailor it to each network. You need to be your brand’s loudest champion, after all, you’re proud of what you have to offer aren’t you? So talk about it!